Regina Check Chashing, located at 450 Hoosick St., was the site of an armed robbery on April 6, 2010 in Troy.

TROY -- An armed robber stole thousands of dollars from a local check cashing store Tuesday and fled on foot, prompting Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to lock down its campus for several hours.

As of Tuesday evening, Troy police were still seeking the unidentified male who they say made off with more than $40,000 after robbing Regina Check Cashing and Financial Services at 450 Hoosick St. shortly after 8 a.m, yesterday. Police Sgt. Terry Buchanan said the suspect is believed to have been waiting around outside the business before it opened. He then entered the business, displayed a black handgun and demanded cash from one of two clerks inside. No shots were fired.

A State Police helicopter was brought in to help search for the suspect, described as a black male in his mid-20s who was last seen dressed in all black carrying a duffel bag containing the contents of the store's on-site safe. He's said to be around 5 foot 8 inches tall and weigh about 180 pounds, with some sort of cut or scrape on his face.

Police could not confirm exactly how much was stolen from the store, but initial reports estimated between $40,000 and $50,000 was in the safe at the time of the robbery.

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"I guess they saw him (the suspect) lurking around in the morning -- he'd been standing around since 7:15 in the morning," said Kaylin Erbe, who works at Wicked Tanning, next door to Regina Check Cashing and Financial Services.

Erbe arrived after the incident, but said police were still there collecting fingerprints and interviewing people when she showed up around 9:45 a.m.

Two doors down at Felthousen's Florists, employee Gloria Clum said she also arrived to work after the robbery occurred.

"I've done business over there at Regina and it's always been very secure that I could see," said Clum.

Shortly after the robbery was reported, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute issued an alert asking its shuttle drivers to identify all passengers they pick up for transport. There were reports that the suspect was apparently spotted near the university's East Campus Athletic Village and Gaerttner Linear Accelerator Laboratory, but police said there were no confirmed sightings.

"I think someone was walking their dog near School 18 and may have seen him run in that direction (toward RPI,)" said Buchanan.

Around 10 a.m., RPI issued an emergency alert over its campus Public Address system: "There is an armed and dangerous man on campus, seek shelter immediately and lock all doors and entrances."

RPI installed its RPIAlert emergency communications system in July of 2009, after the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007, and Tuesday marked the first time it had been activated. Students, faculty and students were also issued alerts via telephone calls, text messages and e-mail. Alerts were also posted on RPI's Web site and on signage throughout campus.

"Around 9 a.m., the helicopter woke us up, it was circling around at least a dozen times," said Bay Phillips, an RPI student who was at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house at 200 Sunset Terrace Tuesday morning.

The house is across from the East Campus Athletic Village, where the perpetrator was allegedly spotted.

"We went outside to see what was happening and we shouted to public safety," said Phillips, who said a lot of cars were pulling off to the side of the road when the RPI alerts went off.

Phillips said students had received at least two or three e-mails about the alert from RPI, along with text messages and phone calls. He said most students didn't seem too worried about the incident at the time and were more concerned about missing classes and scheduled exams.

"I was just leaving my apartment, when I first heard the alert," said Michael Doo, an RPI student who lives off campus. "Since I'm fairly distant from any campus facility, I turned back. I really didn't know what was going on until I checked Twitter."

Some students also set up their own Web site with information about the alerts and links to news stories about the incident. The social networking Web site Twitter was buzzing with messages about what was going on at RPI as students waited in residence halls, classrooms and other campus buildings for more information.

"We heard the helicopters first and were a little annoyed it woke us up, and then we heard the alarms," said freshman Joe Pumper, who was in his dormitory room at the time.

Pumper said rumors were all over the Internet during the lockdown, making it difficult to know exactly what was going on.

"It's a little surreal," he said Tuesday morning. "There were posters up earlier that said they would be testing the system this week so at first we weren't sure if it was real."

The lockdown was canceled shortly before 1 p.m. and classes resumed at 2 p.m. School officials said they would maintain an enhanced public safety presence on campus and in student residential areas throughout Tuesday.

"Our first priority is the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff," said RPI spokesman Michael Mullaney in a statement issued after the lockdown was lifted.

Rumors circulated that Russell Sage College had put their campus on lockdown following RPI's alert, but college spokeswoman Ardelle Hirsch said that was not true.

RPI's alert prompted numerous residents to call police to find out what was going on, and police weren't immediately aware that the campus had activated the alert system. The decision to do so is solely RPI's discretion, according to Buchanan.

"Our concern is public safety," he said. "RPI has a sacred obligation to take care of their students and if they need to do that, we support them."

Anyone with information on the suspect should contact Troy Police detectives at 518-270-4426.